Eat Your Heart Out
by quite-a-riot
Summary: A zombie-outbreak has hit Paris and the dynamic duo of Ladybug and Chat Noir are its only hope! A quick one-shot that somehow won a local fan fiction competition. Enjoy!


**Soooo, I went to a con this last weekend, and they had a fanfiction writing competition. The prompt was Zombie AU (which happens to be my LEAST favorite of any AU of any fandom...cuz I straight up just don't like zombies), so instead of my usual Fairy Tail fandom, I decided I could handle it as a zombie akuma and hopped over to Miraculous Ladybug. It's not my best work, but I wrote it in an hour and a half and ended up winning the contest, so I thought I'd pop it up in case anyone wanted to read it.**

* * *

The heroes of Paris landed on the upper observation deck of the Eiffel Tower and looked out over the disaster before them, trying desperately to catch their breaths.

Of all the akuma's they'd faced over the years together, this had to be Ladybug's least favorite.

"Well, I can't fault his _dead_ ication, My Lady!" her partnered panted next to her.

She groaned for what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour. "Seriously Chat? We're facing a now vast army of undead Parisians, everyone we know has been infected, we still have no idea who the freaking akuma is, and you're making _zombie puns?!"_

Chat Noir sheepishly ruffled the back of his messy blond do sheepishly. "Um, yes?"

Ladybug slumped. "That's what I thought." She straightened from her stance on the top deck of the Eiffel Tower and surveyed the landscape again. Paris was barely recognizable. Smoke rose from places all over the city, marking locations where rioting and looting had taken the place of polite society. The few citizens of the city that weren't shuffling through the streets had taken refuge on the rooftops the pair of superheroes had adopted as their personal highway.

"This isn't working," she sighed quietly, glancing behind them at the milling uninfected people they had managed to save so far, well out-weighed by the hoards of zombified people packing the stairs of the structure below them.

Chat Noir couldn't argue with that. The makeshift barrier they had created to keep the festering creatures at bay was holding - for now - but they were running out of room. And it seemed for every single person they saved, there were three more zombies added to the fray. "Yeah, but what else can we do?"

"We need to go to the source!" Ladybug responded, slamming a polka-dot covered fist into her hand.

"Well, duh, Bugaboo. It doesn't help that we can't get too close to the zombies or we'll turn too." That was why the 'infection' had spread so quickly to begin with. Anyone infected could infect others. "But we've been at this for hours and there's been no sign of an akuma. No flashy costume, no declarations of intent to steal our miraculouses...it's like it's not an akuma at all." Chat didn't think about what he was saying until the words left his mouth, both of their faces paling.

"Oh God, please let that not be the case…" she murmured in response. "What would we even do then?"

"I have no idea," he returned, more solemn than she'd ever seen him.

Chat Noir looked sidelong at the masked love of his life, her true identity still a mystery to him. The look of horror and defeat splashed across her face nearly broke his heart. But...he couldn't dwell on that. If his Lady wasn't going to take command as usual, then it was up to him. He lifted a clawed hand and gave himself a firm slap across the face.

"Enough! Until we learn it's not an akuma, we've got to treat it like one. So, the priority is finding him and reversing this mess. Use your _braaaaiins_ Bugaboo!" No matter how many times she protested his jokes, he knew deep down they kept her head in the game and her confidence up. When she leveled a glare at him, he bumped his hip against the yoyo at her hip with a suggestive nod.

Her eyes lit up. "Well, I was planning on saving this for when we _found_ the akuma, but I think this qualifies as an emergency. Stepping away from him a bit, she grabbed the yoyo, tossed it into the sky and exclaimed to the heavens,

"Lucky Charm!"

What fell back down into her arms was a red and black polka-dotted surgical mask.

"What? Seriously? What am I supposed to do with this?" she asked hysterically, barely containing her inner panic. Luckily, Tikki chose that moment to whisper into her mind.

"Put it on and the zombies can't infect you!"

"That's it! Chat, this will protect me from getting zombified!" She looked around, various parts of the city lighting up with polka dots.

"Connecting the _dots,_ My Lady?" Chat joked, relieved to see the last vestiges of fear melt from her face.

"You know it, Kitty. You just hang tight until I get back!" she exclaimed preparing to swing out across the city.

"Wait, Ladybug! You're going to change back soon! What happens if you're down there as a civilian?!"

She paused at that. "I don't know Chat, but I've got to try. Hopefully the mask will protect me then too."

"Then I'm coming with you!" he replied stubbornly, grabbing his staff and preparing to extend it.

"Not this time Chaton. If this isn't an akuma, then saving as many citizens of Paris as possible is even more important. You need to keep getting people here." She gestured across the rooftops at the little groupings of people dotting the skyline of the city. "If there isn't an akuma to find, you're all they've got until outside help arrives."

Chat's ears drooped. "Ok. But…" he hesitated, the familiar habit of keeping his feelings from weighing her down hard to break. "I...I love you. And if you don't come back, I'll never forgive you."

With those words, he spun on his heel and extended his staff, shooting himself toward the next nearest group of citizens to be saved.

She stared dumbly after him, forgetting the urgency of the situation for a moment as she soaked in what he'd said. She'd never seen him look so serious…

But the noise of groaning coming from the stairs brought her back to herself. She could ponder the depth of her partner's feelings later. Now, she had an akuma to hunt. So she swung off into the midday sun, the first beep of her miraculous drowned out by the distant screams of the people she had sworn to protect.

* * *

Ladybug found the akumatized victim not long after. Which was good, because the only thing she could think of to find patient zero was to look for where the zombies were most prevalent, and she didn't know what would happen to the mask if she de-transformed right in the thick of it.

But, the real issue was getting to the evilized butterfly haunting him. She'd picked up the terrified, undead, bright purple akumatized child that had been hiding under the seat of a local theater, surrounded by surprisingly calm movie-going zombies and ran for all she was worth out the door. The akuma itself seemed to be hiding in the diamond ring he'd pulled off his mother's finger during a particularly scary zombie movie and she couldn't break the damn thing!

She needed Chat.

And her miraculous was giving her its last beeps.

Pulling out her yoyo, trying to juggle the squirming child over her shoulder, she quickly barked out a message. "Chat! I need your Cataclysm! I'm at the theater near the Le Grand Paris!"

"Right, on my way milady!"

And Chat Noir was off, extending his baton and jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Finally, he reached the right street. "Ladybug!" he called out before running towards where he could see her. She glanced up and smiled. "Cataclysm!" The cloud of black surrounding his fist sprang to life as he ran toward her.

But maybe ten feet before he reached her, a blonde-ponytailed zombie stepped out of a nearby alleyway, tackling him to the ground.

"Adri-grrrrrrrr!" she said.

Cat Noir went white, decay spreading over him as he pried Chloe the Zombie off of his body one-handed. How the hell could she tell he was himself while zombified and prevented from seeing his face. That was one serious obsession she had. His mind started to blank out, the zombification killing off his brain cells. He stumbled forward, hand still outstretched.

Ladybug screamed in frustration. "Seriously?! Can we go through just three akumas in a row without you being turned to the dark side PLEASE?!" But she darted forward anyway, thrusting the ring under his Cataclysm and releasing the butterfly. Quick as a wink, she captured and cleansed it, the last beep of her miraculous sounding off.

"Bye bye, little butterfly! Miraculous LADYBUG!" Desperate, she ripped off the polka dotted surgical mask and threw it into the air, just as her transformation released, revealing a very tired and disheveled Marinette as Chat Noir and everything else around her turned magically back to normal.

Chat Noir just stood there staring at her, seeing the now un-akumatized victim in her arms. His mouth hung open in shock as he stared at the classmate who sat RIGHT BEHIND HIM.

EVERY.

DAY.

Marinette smiled sheepishly and shrugged her shoulders with a nervous giggle, her arms spread out as though displaying herself for him.

"Um...eat your heart out?"

* * *

 **And there you have it! A little rushed, but eh, not TOO bad for a quick one-shot, right? lol.**


End file.
